Physical Therapist Assistant Trisha Kurey has joined John Olson at Back-in-Action Rehabilitation in New Holstein.

In the profession of physical therapy, new magic tools do not come along every day to suddenly help people get further and faster along their path to recovery.

What matters most are the therapists themselves—not just their knowledge, but how they relate to their patients and their ability to get them to do the things they need to do to improve.

Physical Therapist John Olson has been doing that at Back-in-Action Rehabilitation since the business opened its clinic in New Holstein in 2005 and prior to that at its Fond du Lac clinic. Back-in-Action also has clinics in Kewaskum and Mayville.

Last August, one of those additions came along which can and has made a positive difference to the clients of Back-in-Action in New Holstein. Trisha Kurey joined the staff of Back-in-Action and serves as a physical therapy assistant (PTA) at the New Holstein office, located in the same building as CRW Insurance at 1401 Milwaukee Dr. (STH 32/57).

This is Kurey’s first job in physical therapy since graduating last May from Northeast Wisconsin Technical College in Green Bay as a PTA.

“There’s very few people we offer a job to on the spot,” Olson said. “Trisha was one of them. She’s a very genuine person. She has a passion for physical therapy.”

“I like seeing people get better,” Kurey said in summarizing why she has gone into this profession.

But there is more to the story than that.

In 2010 Kurey also earned a bachelor’s degree from the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay in Human Biology, Exercise Science. She started out intending to be a nurse, but during a pickup softball game she tore her anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) in her knee.

She was assisted on her own road to 100 percent recovery by therapists and assistants, and their care made an impression on her. “I can be empathetic toward people with complications, because I had them all,” she said.

Although only at Back-in-Action for less than a year, Kurey has worked with patients of all ages and with a wide variety of conditions. Asked if there was any case which has stood out for the impact she has made, Kurey said, “I like to have that moment with all my patients. I like to see them leave here with a smile on their face.”

Some people might think that is difficult to do at a physical therapy clinic where therapists must work with the parts of a patient’s body which have been causing them difficulties and often pain. But Olson said, “The mantra of ‘no pain, no gain’ is not something we embrace.” While every case is different, there are many tools and techniques used at Back-in-Action which provide positive outcomes without undue discomfort.